Archive for January, 2018

The West of England Chess Union covers an area from Penzance c. 230 miles east to Portsmouth and c. 230 miles north-east to Tewkesbury, and because of the return mileages involved in an inter-county match it takes a good captain to get out a maximum strength team. For example, in their recent match against Cornwall held near Exeter, Gloucestershire arrived 4 players short for a 16 board match and lost 12-4.

On Saturday they were 2 players short for their match against Devon at Chedzoy Village Hall near Bridgwater, and although their top 8 boards did score 5-3, this was offset by losing 1-7 in the lower half, giving Devon a 10-6 win.

In last week’s position, Black played 1…Bd8! both attacking the queen and opening up the e-file with the threat of 2…Qe4+ 3.Kb1 and RxB mate. White can avoid this but would have to give up a rook in the process.

In this position from a recent tournament, it’s Black to play and he discovered a piece-winning move. Can you see what that was?

Dave Adams’s old Scottish grade has not yet been integrated with his new ECF one. Also, Susan Selley’s first grade is 89 RapidPlay, and will doubtless need a few more games before it rises to its rightful level.

On Sunday, Devon’s annual jamboree took place at the Isca Centre in Exeter, involving teams of 12 players from three areas of the county. The East comprised players from clubs in the Exeter & District League, though not all clubs were represented. Similarly, the South team was made up of players from clubs involved in the Torbay League, while the West team drew from a solitary club, Plymouth, but a larger population base.

The team grade limit of 1,650 made it an average of 137 per player. The East succeeded in getting closest to that maximum, with the South & West both c.35 points lower. However, the South team emerged clear winners with 7½ points, ahead of East (5½) and West (4½). Full details of all players’ scores and photographs of the event may be found on keverelchess.com/blog.

Here is a win by a member of the Bacon family of the Sidmouth Club; father and 3 sons, of whom 15 year old Nicholas is the eldest. The whole family entered as a team of 4 in a recent rapidplay tournament

In last week’s position, Keith Arkell noticed that Black’s queen was close to becoming trapped, so he played 1.Nb3xN which allows his queen to defend his other knight. 1…NxN and the simple 2.a3 attacks the trapped and powerless queen.

Devon’s annual jamboree took place at the Isca Centre in Exeter, involving teams from three quarters of the county. The East comprised players from clubs in the Exeter & District League, though not all clubs were represented. Similarly, the South team was made up of players from clubs involved in the Torbay League, while the West team drew from a solitary club, Plymouth, and a population base probably greater than either of the other two areas.

The team grade limit of 1,650 made it an average of 137 per player, with no player being allowed to be lower than 100. The East succeeded in getting closest to that maximum, with the South & West both c.35 points lower.

As there were 3 teams, players were paired on the Hutton pairing formula, which ensures that each team has six Whites, upfloats and opponents from the other two teams.

Two charts are needed to make full sense of the outcome. The first shows exactly who played who, and the result.

The 2nd shows each team’s total.

Bd

White

Black

1

Thynne, T. F.

170

S1

½

½

O’Neill, P

188

E1

2

Scott, C. J.

160

E2

½

½

O’Brien, M

159

W1

3

Schofield, J.

156

W1

0

1

Wilson, M

161

S2

4

Brusey. A. W.

158

S3

½

½

Stinton- M

154

W3

5

Butland, N

150

W4

1

0

Hafstad, L

159

E3

6

Ang, S. A.

139

E4

½

½

Kinder, A

147

S4

7

Quinn, M

146

W5

0

1

Blackmore, J

143

S5

8

Taylor, W

136

S6

0

1

Dean, A

140

E5

9

Southall, C

135

E6

1

0

Wilby, R. G.

140

W6

10

Hart-Davis, A

135

W7

1

0

Marjoram, W

128

E7

11

Jones, R. H.

128

E8

0

1

Allen, J. E.

134

S7

12

Cockerton, M

125

S8

½

½

McConnell, P

128

W8

13

Bacon, N

124

E9

1

0

Tatam, T

114

W9

14

Dean, J

112

W10

0

1

Ariss, J

115

S9

15

Sturt, B

116

S10

1

0

Palmer, E

129

E10

16

Scholes, R

112

E11

1

0

Tidy, N. F.

101

S11

17

Kennedy- I

100

S12

½

½

Crickmore, A. E.

108

W11

18

Proudfoot, A

106

W12

1

0

Aldwin, B

100

E12

East

South

West

1

P. O’Neill

188

½

T. F. Thynne

170

½

M. O’Brien

159

½

2

C. J. Scott

160

½

M. Wilson

161

1

J. Schofield

156

0

3

L. Hafstad

159

0

A. W. Brusey

158

½

M. Stinton-

154

½

4

S-A. Ang

139

½

A. Kinder

147

½

N. J. Butland

150

1

5

A. Dean

140

1

J. Blackmore

143

1

M. Quinn

146

0

6

C. Southall

135

1

W. Taylor

136

0

R. G. Wilby

140

0

7

W. Marjoram

128

0

J. E. Allen

134

1

A. Hart-Davis

135

1

8

R. H. Jones

128

0

M. Cockerton

125

½

P. McConnell

128

½

9

N. Bacon

124

1

J. Ariss

115

1

A. Tatam

114

0

10

E. Palmer

129

0

B. Sturt

116

1

J. E. Dean

112

0

11

R. Scholes

112

1

N. F. Tidy

101

0

E. A. Crickmore

108

½

12

B. Aldwin

100

0

I. Kennedy

100

½

A. Proudfoot

106

1

1642

5½

1606

7½

1608

5

Most years, the result is a close one, a triple-tie being recorded more than once. This time, however, the South (Torbay) won by a clear 2 points, losing only 2 games in the process.

Listening to the opening remarks and welcome by the host, Dr. Tim Paulden.

The game on Board 1 featured Trefor Thynne (W) and Paul O'Neill - game drawn.

General view of the higher boards - nearest is Mike Stinton-Brownbridge making a move against Alan Brusey.

Another view of the higher boards - Sara-Ann Ang in play against the Torbay Captain, Andrew Kinder.

The victorious Torbay team, with team captain, Andrew Kinder, holding the trophy.

Wise Men from the East arrived in Bethlehem shortly after Christmas bringing a gift of gold, so perhaps it was appropriate that they did well at the Hastings Christmas Congress, not bringing but taking much gold back with them in the form of prize money.

Indian GM Deep Sengupta and Chinese IM Yiping Lou, tied for 1st prize on 7 points, each receiving £1,600 and being jointly awarded the Golombek Trophy. Third prize was shared between Uzbek GM Jahongir Vakhidov and two Indian IMs Stany and Das on 6½ points. Then came the English brigade in 6th place, Danny Gormally, Mark Hebden, Keith Arkell and Steve Mannion, with Iranian Borna Derakhshani and Norwegian Pal Royset all on 6 points.

A bright spot came with the award of the Best Game prize to Danny Gormally for his Rd. 6 game against Alexandr Fier, the tournament 2nd seed from Brazil.

The 93rd Hastings Congress finished yesterday evening, too late to report on today, but after 7 of the scheduled 9 rounds Keith Arkell was well placed at 3rd=. There was a prize fund of £5,250 to be shared between the top 7 players.

Meanwhile, the World RapidPlay Championship was taking place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where a 1st prize of £186,000 awaited the winner, who proved to be Vishi Anand of India. The World Blitz Championship also took place there, won by Magnus Carlsen (Norway), 2nd Sergey Karjakin (Russia) and 3rd Vishi Anand, with similar rewards.

All of which would suggest that the world’s top players today can make a reasonable living out of chess. But it was not always so. For example, Britain’s top player for decades was Joseph H. Blackburne (1841 – 1924). He became a chess professional in 1862 after having decided a career in a Manchester office was not for him.

He won the 2nd British Championship in 1869 after a tie-break against the holder, Cecil De Vere, and played all over Europe, 53 major tournaments in as many years, getting many prizes and winning so many games he was nicknamed “The Black Death”.

To keep up his income, in winter months he participated in long series of simultaneous matches all over the country – there can hardly have been a club in the kingdom not to have been visited by him at some point. On tours of the Westcountry, for example, he visited Plymouth in 1888 where he played members simultaneously and blindfold. He returned in 1891 playing 8 club members blindfold one evening and 37 members simultaneously the next. Later, he visited Redruth (10 opponents) and Truro. It was a precarious living for one so talented, and he never enjoyed the best of health throughout his life, so in 1911 the BCF launched a testimonial appeal, which raised £800 and suitably invested guaranteed Blackburne an income of £2 per week, which doubtless helped keep a roof over his head.

What would he think of today’s rewards?

Here is a game he played at Bristol in 1875 against an opponent who went on to become a Ladies World Champion. Blackburne was without sight of the board and playing nine others at the same time.